Roon for high end audio?

Better sound is a subjective opinion. Same thing with sound quality.

It can support the same formats, so why not?

If you want equal performance to a good CD player, download Jriver and enable SoX for resampling, load file into memory (before being played) and play as HDCD.

I have a music library on my laptop and files either open in foobar or Jriver.

Regarding DACs - they sound different. Buy one that claims to be accurate/neutral.

432Evo is very good. Audiotroy, I would no longer say it sounds better than Innuos’s top servers.  Why?  Innuos just came out with their own software called Sense 2.04 version.  The sound improvement over Roon on my Zenith 3 is absolutely staggering.  Amazing how the software improved the sound at least 35%, if not more! No kidding. 
So much more natural, at ease and real sounding. I go back to Roon and it sounds so harsh and unrefined ….. in a relative way. 
If playing ripped CDs on the Zenith, put Sense in offline mode and be treated to even better sound. Nothing I have done to my digital front end has wrought out this much SQ improvement.  Overnight my Innuos server has become far, far better sounding. You must check it out.  Yes, I have SOTA high end switches, LPS’s, ethernet filters, cabling  and on and on….
I am a lifetime Roon member and big fan. The Roon interface is still better to use, but I just can’t listen to it vs Innuos Sense.  A complete game changer! 

Sold my last high-end CD player about 4 years ago and since then the only physical media I have used are CDs that I then rip to my server and play in my vehicle.

I started with a dedicated Mac mini server to play ripped CDs and added Roon (lifetime membership) a few years ago.  SQ improved significantly when I switched to an Antipodes DX server that I have upgraded several times.  Currently using the Mojo Audio  Deja Vu EVO Media Server which I find to sound a touch better than the DX.

I am interested in streaming for 2 reasons; broad selection and hopefully better sound.

Streaming will definitely open the door to a broad selection of music (I stream Tidal through Roon). 

It seems most people are using it for playback in less than audiophile situations, and compatible equipment is very limited.

Not true.  Using an upper level dedicated server into a good DAC then SQ equal to or better than what you get from CDs should be achievable.  Also, there are  many Roon compatible endpoints to choose from.

I think the Roon ecosystem is a lot bigger than you think it is.

It sounds like you have only seen the itty bitty appliances that are out there.  Lots of high end DAC manufacturers offer streamer/DACs with Roon compatability, including dcs, Bricasti, Mytek, Auralic, Aurender...

Here's a fairly complete list:


https://roonlabs.com/partners

If you're gonna get with the times streaming incorporating Roon, is the best thing since sliced bread. 

If I wasn't into just listening to LP's/FM, I would be all in. I'll keep my internet connection for everything else but listening to music.